Scientific Restoration of Polytechnic Heritage: The Case of the Franz Reuleaux Collection

The preservation of scientific and technical heritage within museum settings is inseparable from restoration technologies. The conservation of polytechnic-type exhibits is in high demand, as evidenced by recent surveys of museum professionals and administrators who identify the restoration of archival and exhibition collections as their foremost priority. This article examines case studies in reconstructing damaged kinematic models from the Franz Reuleaux collection, systematically analyzing diverse approaches to restoring such polytechnic artifacts. The authors demonstrate how emerging additive technologies significantly expand traditional conservation capabilities as well as addressing the reproduction of museum copies, replicas, and tactile models through innovative methods. The restoration of Reuleaux’s museum objects necessitated intensive interdisciplinary collaboration among specialists spanning technical, humanistic, educational, and cultural domains. The project’s outcomes include the reintegration of storage-bound Reuleaux collection items — deemed unfit for display due to significant losses and poor condition — into the permanent exhibition of Bauman Moscow State Technical University Museum’s while providing new digital environment for promoting Reuleaux' engineering heritage among museum visitors and specialists with varying levels of expertise and professional backgrounds.